Report contents
SSA · Developing
Kenya
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 51 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +3 |
| Inflation 5.4% · unbanked 10% · remittances 4.2% GDP · capital controls 0.3 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.134 |
| Need multiplier | ×0.702 |
| Livability score | 0.426 |
Raw 51/84 = 0.607 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.13, from five components: inflation 5.4% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 10% of adults, remittances 4.2% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.30 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×0.70. Livability score 0.426, rank #40 of 79.
Three findings
Fifth in the world for stablecoin transaction volume
Kenya ranks fifth globally for stablecoin volume, with Tether at 49 percent and USD Coin at 31 percent of local usage, and stablecoins accounting for 43 percent of all Sub-Saharan crypto transactions. M-Pesa, the country's near-ubiquitous mobile-money system, is the perfect settlement rail for decentralised P2P (peer-to-peer trading between individuals), giving Kenya top-band exchange access and the strongest mobile-money-to-crypto bridge on the continent.
One of Sub-Saharan Africa's most consequential pivots of 2025
The Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, gazetted 21 October and in force 4 November 2025, gave crypto statutory recognition under a dual regulator: the central bank leads on custody, payments, and stablecoin issuance, the capital-market authority on exchanges and tokenisation. The controversial 3 percent Digital Asset Tax was repealed from July 2025 and replaced by a 10 percent excise duty on platform fees only.
A 4.94 billion dollar remittance base trending toward an upgrade
Diaspora remittances hit a record 4.94 billion dollars, up 18 percent, against 3.3 billion dollars in annual stablecoin transactions, putting the crypto remittance share at an estimated 5 to 10 percent. A Mercy Corps pilot cut freelancer transfer fees from 29 percent to 2 percent using stablecoins, the clearest single illustration of the cost case.
In one line
"Kenya turned M-Pesa into the world's best on-ramp for crypto and ranks fifth on the planet for stablecoin volume. A pilot that cut a freelancer's transfer fee from twenty-nine percent to two is the whole argument in one number."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 4/4, actively liberalising. The VASP Act is in force, and the National Treasury issued draft VASP Regulations in March 2026 to operationalise it, but licensing has not yet opened, leaving the market in a transitional informal-tolerance phase. Watch for the first licences and the activation of full Travel Rule and beneficial-ownership reporting.